Mahdi Belbasi
I am Mahdi Belbasi, currently serving as an associate at Morgan Stanley (Hedge fund solutions unit). Previously, I was a software engineer (Optimization team) at Gopuff designing and implementing algorithms. I earned my PhD degree in theoretical computer science from Penn State University (2017-2022), where I was fortunate to be advised by Dr. Martin Fürer. My PhD Dissertation focused on Fixed Parameter Tractable (FPT) algorithms, optimization, approximation algorithms, and algebraic graph theory. The title of my thesis was "FPT Algorithms for NP-Complete Graph Problems Parameterized by Treewidth and Tree-Depth".
I did my undergrad in computer engineering and mathematics at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. I did my undergrad project (thesis) with Dr. Ebadollah Mahmoodian which was about The Chromatic Number of Finite Group Cayley Tables.
Email: [belbasi.mb][at]gmail
Research Interests:
Approximation Algorithms
Optimization
Graph Algorithms and Algebraic Graph Theory
Fixed Parameter Tractable Algorithms
Randomized Algorithms
Computational Complexity
Machine Learning
Teaching (as the instructor):
[the material will be uploaded on Canvas]Teaching (as a teaching assistant):
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Spring 2022
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Fall 2021
CSE 565 (Grad-Level Algorithm Design) - Fall 2020
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Spring 2021
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Fall 2019
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Spring 2019
CMPSC 464 (Theory of Computation) - Fall 2017
CMPSC 465 (Algorithm Design) - Spring 2018
CSE 565 (Grad-Level Algorithm Design) - Fall 2018
Talks:
"Finding All Leftmost Separators of Size <= k" [joint work with Martin Fürer], The 15th Annual International Conference on Combinatorial Optimization and Applications, 2022
"An Improvement of Reed’s Treewidth Approximation" [joint work with Martin Fürer], The 15th International Conference and Workshops on Algorithms and Computing (WALCOM), 2021 [link to talk: video]
"Sampling from Ising Model with Fixed Boundary Condition", CSE Theory Seminar, Penn State, PA (October 2019)
"Saving Space by Algebraization ", CSE Theory Seminar, Penn State, PA (April 2017)
Publication:
"An Improvement of Reed's Treewidth Approximation" [journal version], Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer. [Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications, Vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 257-282, 2022]
"Finding All Leftmost Separators of Size ≤ k", Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer. in COCOA 2021 [Best paper award]
"The Minimizer Jaccard Estimator is Biased and Inconsistent", Mahdi Belbasi, Antonio Blanca, Bob Harris, David Koslicki, Paul Medvedev [ISMB 2022 and Oxford Bioinfomatics Journal]
"Faster 2-Approximation of the Treewidth", Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer, Medha Kumar [in preparation]
"An Improvement of Reed's Treewidth Approximation", Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer. [WALCOM 2021]
"A Space-efficient Parameterized Algorithm for the Hamiltonian Cycle Problem by Dynamic Algebraization", Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer. [CSR 2019]
"Saving Space by Dynamic Algebraization Based on Tree Decomposition: Minimum Dominating Set", Mahdi Belbasi, Martin Fürer. [arXiv preprint 2017]
Reviews:
SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics 2022
Sub-reviews:
FOCS 2017
SWAT 2022
APPROX 2023
Problems that I am thinking on at the moment:
Treewidth Approximation
Dynamic Algebraization to Save Space
Certificates and volunteering activities:
Outstanding graduate teaching assistant of EECS Department, Spring 2021, Fall 2021.
A counselor of the "Game Makers and Game Changers" summer camp, Summer 2021.
A summer camp to teach the fundamentals of artificial intelligence to middle-school students.
A leader of international graduate students orientation, Summer 2020.
Treasurer of Iranian Student Association (ISA) at Penn State, Fall 2017.
Contact:
Email: [my last name][dot]mb[at]gmail
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahdi-belbasi-ph-d-5469ba61/
Hobbies:
Biking/hiking
Playing Badminton
Playing/Watching Football (in US: "soccer"). I am a huge fan of Bayern Munich.
Editing and translating Wikipedia pages